The invention relates to sports boards that are ridden by a person standing upon them, and more specifically to one whose basic structure is an elongated metal board. Some examples of sports boards are skateboards, snowboards and wakeboards.
The earliest skateboards were made of a plain flat piece of wood. Later models were made of other materials and had improved structure. The Gaber U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,326 discloses an improved skateboard having a replaceable arc-tail with a wear surface and further having wheels wells.
The Stevenson U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,520 discloses a skateboard structure having a central platform formed of a top piece and a bottom piece. The two pieces may be shaped to define an inner surface of cellular configuration so that when the two pieces are fitted together they define an internal reinforcing honeycomb-like core. The Stevenson U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,963 discloses the top and bottom pieces being formed of appropriate injection molded plastic material, such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polycarbonate, plexiglass, or other plastic material which is susceptible to injection molding; or aluminum casting or compression molded fiberglass; or any other material which may be molded or cast.
The Meredith U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,907 discloses a skateboard having a front member and a rear member and structure for allowing the length of the skateboard to be extended or retracted.
The Scheurer et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,063 discloses a reaction injection molded recreation board with spaced rectangular reinforcing rods. The rods are rectangular in cross section and are disposed between upper and lower surfaces of the board.
The Smisek U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,734 discloses a hollow elongated board having openings, formed in the underside of the board, adapted to receive standard skateboard wheels. The skateboard further employs wheel ramps on opposite sides of each wheel to provide a smooth under surface to aid in negotiation of large obstacles such as curbs, stairs, etc. and to allow the skateboard to glide over smaller objects.
In the late 1970's, an American skateboard manufacturer made his boards of aluminum plate material. These boards proved to be too heavy and too expensive and were not very popular. The edges of the skateboard, after heavy use, became razorblade sharp and were extremely dangerous.
The inventors recognized the problems of the prior art aluminum metal skateboards when they attempted to make the skateboards out of flat sheet aluminum. The flat sheet metal bent in the middle and could not endure hard riding. It was then decided to go with a thicker piece of aluminum and cutout sections of the metal to make it lighter while still maintaining sufficient structural support. The problem of razorblade sharp edges still occurred with the metal board and the metal board was still too heavy. Additionally, it also bent or buckled in the middle of the board when it was subjected to hard use.
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel metal board that is lightweight yet capable of withstanding the hard use of jumping actions by the rider and not bend or break.
It is another object of the invention to provide a metal board that could be used as a sports board that is ridden by a person standing upon it.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel metal board whose left and right edges have hollow or cavity-forming rails that are not subject to becoming razorblade sharp.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a novel metal board that could be used in multiple sports such as skateboarding, wakeboarding and snowboarding.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel metal board that is economical to manufacture and market.